Google Reveals Plans for Futuristic, Flexible Headquarters

Google wants lightweight, block-like structures which can be moved around easily, and are covered by glass-like tents.

Google is taking its exploration of modular devices to greater heights, with a wacky new proposal for its Mountain View headquarters.

The search giant's plan, submitted today to the Mountain View City Council, would redevelop four sites where it already has offices but wants to "significantly increase our square footage."

But instead of just constructing more concrete buildings or towering skyscrapers to accommodate a ballooning workforce, Google wants to "create lightweight block-like structures which can be moved around easily as we invest in new product areas," David Radcliffe, vice president of real estate, said in a blog post.

The mock-ups of the proposed space - from Bjarke Ingels at BIG and Thomas Heatherwick at Heatherwick Studio - show open structures covered by translucent tents. Inside these tents are shops, open spaces for people to walk, run, or bike, as well as greenery and creeks.

But this is not some run-of-the-mill wedding tent. In a video (below), Heatherwick described it as "a piece of glass fabric" that Google would drape over tent poles, essentially "blurring the outside world and inside world."

The buildings, meanwhile, are "almost like the Lincoln Logs we had when we were kids," Radcliffe said in the video. "You can just pile them up and assemble them differently with, basically, no new materials."

Earlier this week, a New York Timespiece highlighted the "testy" relationship between Google and community members who are not part of the company. From traffic problems to a housing crunch, residents and Googlers aren't exactly living in the perfect harmony the Google video would have you imagine, the paper said.

To that end, Google said it wants to engage the community. "So we're adding lots of bike paths and retail opportunities, like restaurants, for local businesses," Radcliffe wrote. "We also hope to bring new life to the unique local environment, from enhancing burrowing owl habitats to widening creek beds. And we're committed to do everything we can to save energyour recent agreement to offset our energy consumption in North Bayshore with renewable energy includes the development of this proposal."

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
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